Method for feeding into a machine articles delivered by more machines



Aug. 13, 1963 A. SERAGNOLI 3,100,561

METHOD FOR FEEDING INTO A MACHINE ARTICLES DELIVERED BY MORE MACHINES Filed Nov. 27, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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METHOD FOR FEEDING INTO A MACHINE ARTICLES DELIVERED BY MoRE MACHINES Filed Nov. 27, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IO M FIG. 2

mvEHToR Ariosfo Seragnoh E M 6 'd v/ I, W ATTORNEY Aug. 13, 1963 A. SERAGNOLI 3,100,561

METHOD FOR FEEDING INTO A MACHINE ARTICLES DELIVERED BY MORE MACHINES Filed Nov. 27, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 111i H V Fl 6.4

5 s"1u2= 5s 5s 51L 2 I [Pr/627720 United States Patent Ofiice 3 .1%,561 Patented Aug. 13, 1963 3,100,561 METHGD FQR FEEDENG HJTG A MACHiNE ARTICLES DELIVERED BY MORE MACHlNE-S Ariosto Seragnoli, Via Pomponia 1i), Bologna, itaiy Filed Nov. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 855,718 Claims priority, application Italy Dec. 3, 1958 1 Claim. (Cl. 19t--21) In the art there arises the necessity of feeding articles delivered by two or more machines, which will be called preceding machines, into another machine, which Wlll. be termed as subsequent machine.

If the productive capacity of the preceding machines is independent of that of the subsequent machine, there arises the problem of co-ordinating the machines between each other in such a way as to Warrant the operation of the whole unit in the most efficient manner.

Various devices have been devised to solve this problem. According to some of the known devices, the articles dealt With by the preceding machines are collected in groups in accumulators, which are then conveyed to the subsequent machine to feed it. This system is the first and most simple one of the devices so far proposed and it is the only system which is still in use, but it has various drawbacks, the most essential of which resides in the necessity of requiring a considerable number of intermediate accumulators and of taking them alternatively from the preceding machines to the subsequent machine.

The present invention departs from What has been devised and realized hitherto, insofar as it solves the problem in a quite different manner and does away with the intermediate accumulators of articles, by acting in such a way as to directly convey the articles delivered by the preceding machines to the subsequent machine.

The spirit and the novel embodiments forming the object of the present invention will be better understood by having reference to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings.

The method is disclosed hereinafter with reference to a particular mechanism intended to feed articles as delivered by two preceding machines into a subsequent machine having a productive capacity which is somewhat greater than the total productive capacity of the two preceding machines.

This invention includes certain elements known per se. For instance, certain of these elements are shown in US Patents 1,609,802 and 2,519,477. This invention is directed to a novel co-operation of these and other elements to produce a new combination.

In the accompanying drawings, which refer to a preferred embodiment of the mechanism designed to put into eifect the method according to the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic and partial top view of the mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic and partial front view of the mechanism according to line 1-1 of FIG. 1.

FIGURE 3 is a schematic diagram of an electrical circuit representing a preferred form of speed control mechanism used to operate the machine to be fed.

FIGURE 4 is a schematic diagram of an electrical circuit showing an alternative method for controlling the speed of the machine to be fed.

Referring to the drawings, the method and the mech anism designed to put it into effect have the purpose of supplying through a unique feeding channel 1 to a subsequent machine 2 the articles 3 delivered by at least two machines 4, 4, from which they are coming out through the respective discharge channels 5, 5' formed from the stationary uprights, 15, 15' and from the stationary bottoms 16, 16'.

The articles 3 are discharged from the preceding machines 4, 4' at a rate independent of that of the subsequent machine 2 which, in its turn, has a potentiality in excess to deal with all of the articles which are discharged from the preceding machines 4, 4'.

The problems to be solved are as follows:

To transfer the articles 3 from the channels 5, 5 to the feeding channel 1; to make sure that said articles follow up one behind the other in said channel 1, without overlapping; to avoid an idle or irregular operation of the subsequent machine 2, owing to the circumstance that the articles arrive from the preceding machines 4, 4 at a rate insuflicient to feed it with full potentiality, as stated above.

The mechanism comprises two conveying channels 6, 6' which withdraw the articles 3 from the discharge channels 5, 5' and convey them to a station A intended to transfer them to the feeding channel 1.

The articles delivered by the one or the other preceding machine, upon reaching station A, are gripped by transfer members which arrange them in columns and push them into the feeding channel 1, by inserting them between each other in succession as they reach station A.

Since the operation and the structure of the convey ing and transfer devices from the one and from the other preceding machine are equal and symmetric, the disclosure, for simplicitys sake, will be continued only for the conveying and transfer devices from the discharge channel 5 to the feeding channel 1. The operation of the conveying and transfer device from the discharge channel 5' to the feeding channel is clearly shown in the drawings.

The conveying channel 6 is formed from stationary side guides 7 and from the upper portion of belt 8, which constitutes the bottom thereof and moves in the direction of the arrow, so as to act also as dragging means for conveying the articles 3 from channel 5 to channel 1.

In FIG. 1 the articles 3 are not shown, so as to permit of the parts situated thereunder to be seen.

Instead in FIG. 2, where the articles 3 are shown, there are omitted all of the conveying and transfer devices from the discharge channel 5 to the feeding channel 1, so as to not to complicate the drawings. For the same reason, in FlG. 2 the machines 2 and 4, 4' are not shown.

Belt *8 is closed like a ring around the pulleys 9 and 10 carried respectively by the shafts 17 and 18 rotating in the respective stationary supports 11 and 12 (not shown in FIG. 2). Shaft 17 is the driving shaft and causes pulley 9 to rotate and belt 8 to move at a uniform speed in the direction of the arrows.

This speed is chosen sufliciently high so as to convey to station A all of the articles delivered by channel 5.

Channel 5 carries articles 3 in a direction substantially normal to the conveying channel 6, and discharges into said channel.

In front of the outlet of channel 5, or integral with pulley 1t), there is provided a thrust wheel. 13 rotating in the direction of the arrow and having lugs 14 on the side turned towards channel 5.

When an article 3, upon being pushed by the articles, situated behind, into discharge channel 5, is bearing upon the thrust wheel 13, it is by one of lugs 14 expelled from the discharge channel 5 and caused to enter the conveying channel 6, in which it keeps on moving past said belt so as to reach a supporting plane 19 and then an elevator 20, whereupon it keeps on moving as far as to strike against a sensitive element formed from a rod 21 provided with a locking tooth 22.

The rod 21 is carried by a shaft 23 rotating in the stationary support 24 and may swing to the left against the action of a return spring 25, as far as to reach stop 26. In FIG. 2 the rod 21 is shown in the position of greatest displacement to the left.

The elevator 20 is carried by a rod 27 guided in the stationary support 28 and provided with a counter tooth 29- located in such a way as to enter into engagementwith'tooth 22 of the sensitive element 21.

The rod 27 carries also a boss 30, which is acted upon by a spring 31 and extends in such a way as to form a supporting tooth 32.

Laterally to the rod 27 there is axially movable, parallel thereto, a control rod 33 guided in the stationary support 3 4 and which is reciprocated in the direction of the arrows by means of a mechanism not shown, such as a cam or a connecting rod and a crank system.

The control rod 33 is provided at the top with a boss 35, to which said spring 31 is secured, and at the bottom with a tooth 36 adapted to cooperate with the supporting tooth 32' of rod 27 of the elevator 20. Spring 31 is so dimensioned that in the position shown, in the figure it is stretched and acts in such a way as to keep into contact the supporting tooth 312 with tooth 36.

Channel 1 is formed from two lateral stationary edges 37 as well as from the upper branches of belts 38 and the lower branches of belts 39 which move in the direction extending from station A to machine 2 and constitute the conveying means to cause articles 3 delivered by the station A to advance in channel 1.

Belts 38 .close like a ring around pulley 40 carried by driving shaft 41 rotating in the stationary supports 42 and around a corresponding return pulley, not shown, at the end of feeding channel 1 adjacent the subsequent machine 2.

Similarly, the belts 39 close like a ring around the pulley 4-3 carried by the driving shaft 44 rotating in the stationary supports 45 and around a corresponding'return pulley, not shown, at the end of the feeding channel 1 adjacent the machine 2.

The speed of belts 3 8 is in excess when it is needed to feed into the subsequent machine 2 all of the articles which it might be able to deal with, so that during the operation said articles accumulate on the bottom of the channel, towards machine 2.

Above the elevator 20 and at the corresponding elevator 20 concerning the conveying channel 6, on the extension of edges 37 there are provided the two swinging uprights 46. in FIG. 1 there is shown only one of them, namely the right one; the symmetrical left upright has been omitted so as to permit to see the underlying parts.

Said swinging uprights in their lower part have square projections which form small bearing planes 47; in the underlying part they show an inclined plane and their lower line is higher than the upper line of articles 3 which, upon being pushed by belt 8, pass beneath the same so as to reach elevator 20.

Said swinging uprights 46 are carried by shafts 43 rotating within stationary supports 49. They are able to swing outwards by overcoming the opposition of spring 50' which acts in opposition between said upright and a point of the stop 51. Said stop 51 serves also to limit. the inward swinging action of the upright through arm 52 integral with said upright and which strikes against the stop. I

In the area left between the end of channel 1 adjacent the transfer station A and the operating area of the aforesaid swinging uprights there is a space in which articles 3 would not be supported either by the small planes 47 or by belts 38. In this area there is provided a supporting plane 53 which permits articles 3 to be continuously supported on the path from the transfer station A to feeding channel 1.

In station A, in front of the inlet of channel 1, there is provided a pusher 54 guided in the stationary support 55 and which rhythmically performs a reciprocating motion in the direction of the arrows, in phase with the vertical reciprocating motion of the control rods 33. In FIG. 1 said pusher has been omitted so as not to complicate the drawing.

On the feeding channel 1 there are provided a sensitive element 56 near the machine 2 and the sensitive elements 56', 56" near the inlet of channel 1, which indicate when the underlying area of the channel is filled with objects or it is empty.

Each of said sensitive elements is formed from a swinging arm 57 carried by a shaft 53 guided in stationary supports contained in a box 59 enclosing electric contacts which are closed when an article, by passing beneath an arm 57, lifts the latter. The switches \operated by the sensitive elements 57' and 57 are connected in series in an electric circuit which controls the rate of operation of machine 2 so that when the sensitive elements are simultaneously actuated, the rate of operation of machine 2 is restored to its maximum value. The switch operated by sensitive element 57 is connected in series with another electric circuit which reduces the rate of operation of machine 2. If the operation of machine 2 is decreased, it will be retained at this rate of speed until it is restored through the operation of sensitive elements 57' and 57".

FIGURE 3 is a schematic diagram showing an electrical circuit capable of controlling the regulation of the speed of machine 2. 101 denotes a transformer 'having an input 100. One side of the output of the transformer is grounded and represents one side of all the individual circuits running to the motor 106. 103 denotes a telecommutator complex and 104 and 105 indicate, respectively, the three-phase feeding lines for the motor 106. With this arrangement, circuit 104- will operate the motor 106 at maximum speed, while circuit 105 will operate the motor at a minimum speed. The tele-cornrnutator 103 controls the operation of these two circuits. The operation of the tele-commutator is in turn controlled by switches 57, 57', and 57". Current will be supplied to high-speed circuit 104 when the tele-commutator receives impulses through switches 57, 57' and 57", and current is maintained in this circuit until switch 57 is closed. Circuit 106 which operates the motor at minimum speed will be supplied with current when the tele-commutator undergoes an interruption of current through switch 57, which current will be maintained until switches 57 and 57" are again closed.

A more simplified control mechanism is shown schematically in FIGURE 4, wherein 101 denotes a transformer having an input 100. One side of the output is grounded at 102. 110 indicates a remote control switch and 111 denotes the three-phase feed line for driving motor 106 of machine 2. When all the switches 57, 57' and 57" are closed, the remote control switch 110 is energized, which in turn drives motor 106. Current is continuously supplied through the self-excited remote control switch until switch 57 is opened. Current will again be supplied when all of the said three switches are again simultaneously closed.

The working of the object of the invention will now be described with reference to the transfer of articles 3 from the machine 4 to channel 1.

The articles 3 which are discharged from the preceding machine 4, by moving along the discharge channel 5, reach the thrust wheel 13. One of the lugs 14 of said wheel push the articles 3 on the conveying channel 6.

Belt 8 causes the articles 3 to move along said channel as far as to strike against the sensitive element 21 and to shift it outwards, so as to disengage tooth 22 of said sensitive element from tooth 29 of the elevator rod.

Thus, when the control rod 33 ascends, it drags upwards also the rod 27, through the resilient connection of spring 31 whose force, when it is closed, is sufiicient to overcome the weight of elevator 20 and the forces of inertia and of friction. The elevator 20 thus ascends to take the article 3 between the movable uprights 46 which are being opened and receive it, whereupon they close again and support it from beneath, owing to its bearing upon the small planes 47, at the upper level of belts 38 which constitute the bottom of channel 1. The pusher 54 advances towards the channel 1 and pushes the articles 3 onto the supporting plane 53, so as to push forward under the action of belts 38 and 39 an equal number of articles which have previously reached plane 53. In a modification, articles 3 may also be directly pushed by pusher 54 as far as to reach the aforesaid belts, by traversing the whole plane 53.

In any case, belts 38, 39 grip the articles and move them forward as far as to take them against the other articles which are already in channel 1.

If at the moment, in which control rod 33 ascends, no article has struck yet the sensitive element 21 and shifted outwards tooth 22, the movement of rod '27 will be prevented by tooth 22 which engages with tooth 29, in which case rod 33 ascends alone without lifting rod 27: this is permitted by spring 31 which is being stretched, whereas tooth 36 moves away from boss 32.

Thus, the elevator 20 can ascend only upon an article 3 having reached the correct position above it and all of the articles delivered by the machine 4 will be duly conveyed in succession into channel 1, without running the risk of being overlapped and of meeting obstacles. The small plane 53 offers a sure support for the articles 3 when passing from the swinging uprights 46 onto the operating area of belts 38, 39.

It will now be necessary to provide a system intended to avoid an irregular operation of the subsequent machine 2 which, in order not to limit the yield of the preceding machines 4, 4', must have the capacity of dealing with a number of articles which is somewhat greater than the number of articles discharged by the two preceding machines taken together, so that from time to time it would have to desist from performing an operation, owing to the failure of receiving a number of articles corresponding to its potentiality. This is achieved by causing channel 1 to act as a reservoir or accumulator, whose length is proportioned in such a way as to permit between the sensitive element 56 and the group of sensitive elements 56, 56" the accumulation of a certain quantity of articles, proportioned to the difference between thepotent-iality of the subsequent machine 2 and the total potentiality of the two preceding machines 4, 4' taken together. The operation of the sensitive elements is as follows:

It is to be borne in mind that, when pusher 54 pushes towards channel 1 the articles 3 which have been lifted by the elevators 20, 20' (or by only one of them, if on the other elevator there was not yet an article in the right position), the articles themselves, at an equal number of those accumulated by the small supporting plane 53 (according to the stroke of the pusher) are taken under the action of belts 38, 39 which move them forward.

Thus, in the feeding channel 1, ll-l'l an area situated quite close to transfer station A, there is a succession of single or coupled articles which advance by following each other, spaced apart at regular intervals, towards the bottom of feeding channel 1 adjacent the subsequent machine 2, where they reach the previously conveyed articles and place themselves one behind the other.

Now, there will be described the operation of the sensitive element 56 provided in the area where the articles are being crowded. As long as said area is occupied by articles heaped up between each other, the sensitive element 56 maintains its upper position so as to keep closed the contact. The subsequent machine 2 runs at full speed, withdrawing from feeding channel 1 a number of articles which is greater than that supplied thereto. At a certain moment, beneath the sensitive element 56 there will be no thrust exerted by the articles, so that it will fall down and break the exciting circuit of an electric relay (not shown) which varies the speed of run of the subsequent machine 2, either by stopping it or by reducing its speed in such a way as to cause its productive capacity to get lesser than the total productive capacity of the preceding machines 4, 4'.

Thereupon an operation phase follows in which the number of articles heaped up and the area occupied by them are being increased and the sensitive element 56 again closes the circuit of the relay which, however, is kept unexcited until an impulse of electric exciting current is transmitted to it.

This is attendedto by the two sensitive elements 56', 56" which are inserted in series, one uponthe other, on the circuit supplying the electric energy impulse so as to again excite the aforesaid relay.

Said sensitive elements '56, 56" are placed one behind the other at such a distance that, as long as: the articles, which move along the feeding channel 1, are separated between each other, at least one of said two sensitive elements always keeps open the circuit, whereas, if the area of heaped up articles, when being progressively increased, extends as far as to reach from below the said sensitive elements 56', 56", they will be simultaneously lifted so as to close the circuit supplying the electricimpulse exciting said relay and to cause the subsequent machine 2 to again operate at the maximum productive capacity.

By suitably proportioning the capacity of the aforesaid reservoir to the potentiality of the machines, it will be possible to achieve that in practice the said relay performs a small number of interventions per hour, and the operation takes place in quite a satisfactory manner.

Having thus described the method and mechanism which form the object of the present invention, with reference to a preferred form of embodiment, it will be obvious for experts that many variations and modifications may be made without thereby departing from the spirit and the purposes of the invention, and it is to be understood that the present patent is intended to cover all of the forms which fall within the spirit and the purposes of said patent.

In particular, there is provided: that any number of preceding machines may be arranged, from whose discharge the articles will be collected which are intended to be taken to a subsequent machine; that the articles reach the conveying channels from said machines in any way whatever; that the conveying channels and the feeding channels to the final machine may be of only one of the various types known; that the feeding channel has the belts arranged laterally instead of on the top; that the sensitive elements act sidewise or below; etc. etc., without thereby departing from the limits of protection of the present patent.

What I claim is:

A mechanism for feeding articles a first and a second machine to a third machine comprising common transfer station means, first and second conveyor means connecting said first and said second machines to said transfer station means, and additional conveyor means connecting said third machine to said transfer station means, said transfer station means comprising a pair of elevators normally positioned below said additional conveyor means in a position to receive articles from said first and said second conveyor means, means for rhythmically reciprocating said elevators to a position adjacent said additional conveyor means, pusher means and means for reciprocating said pusher means in phase with said elevators whereby said pusher means pushes said articles from said elevators to said additional conveyor means, said first and said second conveyor means each comprising a continuous belt-type conveyor mounted on two pulleys located at the inlet and outlet allel to the plane of said conveyor, said additional conveyor means including speed control means connected to said third machine and positioned in the path of articles moving on said additional conveyor means to reduce \the speed of said third machine when there are no articles adjacent said speed control means, said additional conveyor means including further control means adjacent said additional conveyor means and said transfer station means, said :further control means being connected to said speed control means to deactivate said speed control means when articles are adjacent said further control means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Thornton June 30, 1925 Ekstrom Dec. 7, 1926 Berthold Aug. 1, 1944 Kind Aug. 22, 1950 Baumann Aug, 1, 1958 Littwin Dec. 2, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany 'Feb. 19, 1937 Germany Oct. 21, 1960 Great Britain Feb. 1, 190-8 

